Never Too Late
by Mrs Ronald Weasley
Summary: Bella can’t cope with Edward’s death. Takes place in my post-New Moon Bella/Carlisle AU. Obviously Bella/Carlisle. DON'T LIKE? DON'T READ! Using for my Twilight20 prompt: Hope. This version is complete, see author notes for more info.


**Never Too Late**

Author: Mrs Ronald Weasley

Rating: PG-13 or T

Pairing/s: Bella/Carlisle

Category: Angst/Romance

Spoilers: New Moon, but nothing after that

Warnings: Mature subject matter including: major character death, and attempted suicide.

Summary: Bella can't cope with Edward's death. Takes place in my post-New Moon Bella/Carlisle AU.

A/N: You know it's bad when you miss your own writing! This is an excerpt from my longer, unfinished, Bella/Carlisle fic called Where Twilight Dwells. It's meant to be more dark than angsty because I just wasn't really feeling depressed.

I got inspired for this while watching this. It's Bella/Jacob but I suggest you check it out even if you hate Jacob/Bella. I don't ship Jacob/Bella in any way other than friendship, and I loved this vid. Using for my Twilight20 prompt: Hope.

'_**Even if I say it'll be alright**_

_**Still I hear you say you want to end your life**_

_**Now and again we try to just stay alive**_

_**Maybe we'll turn it around cause it's not too late**_

_**It's never too late**_

_**The world we knew won't come back**_

_**The time we've lost can't get back**_

_**The life we had won't be ours again'**_

'_**Never Too Late' by Three Days Grace**_

The house was dark when he came home. Dark, but not quiet. The sound of her sobs broke through silence and through him like knife. It had only been a few weeks and neither of them could shake the depression, the pain.

Sucking in a deep breath and attempting to keep the pain at bay, Carlisle opened the door and entered the hallway.

She stopped crying abruptly when she heard the garage door shut. Quickly, Bella got up from the bedroom floor and ran into the bathroom, shoving her blood-covered hands and arms under the cold running water.

"Bella?" Carlisle called as he heard a door slam shut upstairs.

It wasn't until he reached the landing, did he notice the smell of the blood: her blood.

Panic welled within him and turned, running to the bathroom and swinging the door open.

"Bella? What happened?" She jumped and reached for a towel, but he was too fast for her. She was in his arms and back in the bedroom in less than a second.

"Carlisle," her reply was weak and hoarse, and she moaned in pain when he pressed a clean towel to each of her bleeding wrists.

"Bella, what did you do?" His voice was gentle, non-accusing and pained.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle," she cried. "I'm so sorry!"

"Shh," he soothed as best he could as he pulled her into his arms. "It'll be alright. You're going to be fine."

"No," she moaned.

"You didn't cut yourself that deep, I can-"

"I can't do it Carlisle!" Bella cried, "I can't keep living without _him_!"

As much as it hurt, Carlisle pulled away slightly too look her in the eye. "Bella, listen to me, please," his voice was desperate; "I need you to hang on for me. You can't do this alone, and neither can I. We need each other. I won't lose you too."

She went quiet then, her sobs subsiding into deep, calming breaths, but tears still poured out of her bloodshot eyes.

"Can you do that?" he whispered, his hands on her head and his tortured angelic face inches from hers.

Her eyes fell closed and she nodded once.

Smiling slightly, Carlisle leaned forward and kissed her passionately.

He pulled back after a few seconds, and took her wrists, "why didn't you tell me?" he whispered as he pulled back the towels.

"I'm sorry," she replied, refusing to meet his eyes. "I didn't think I could do something like this. I didn't think my will was strong enough..."

"Bella," Carlisle said as he moved to the dresser, turning on the light, "I can give you something."

She shook her head. "No," she whispered, "I don't want antidepressants. I won't do it again."

His golden eyes met hers and he nodded, giving in, for the moment at least. But that didn't matter, she was safe, and that was all he cared about.

Bella stayed quiet while he cleaned her cuts. "I'm going to give you a couple of stitches just to be safe," Carlisle said quietly after a few moments. She nodded.

"Carlisle?" her voice was barely a whisper.

"Yes Bella?"

"I..." she paused and looked away for a moment, "I know you love your work, but, do you think you could take some time off? I just think it'd be better for me if you were here all the time."

Carlisle looked up as he finished wrapping her right hand in gauze, "I think it'd be better for both of us."

He collected everything from the bed and turned off the light before returning. "Can you sleep?" he asked her as she lay down.

Bella nodded, "I think so."

Carlisle reached for her and she turned into his arms, curling up beside him as she closed her eyes. His grip tightened as he knew it would only be a matter of time before she began thrashing from the nightmares that still plagued her...

A/N: I left it like that because like I said in the author note at the beginning, this is part of a longer story. I don't know when I'm going to post the first chapter of that, hopefully it'll be soon. Thanks for reading, and I'm sorry that I haven't written anything lately!


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